July 7th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Customization, Frequency, Mammogram Screening, Mammograms, Oncology, Personalized Healthcare, Plastic Surgery, Risk Factors, Screening, USPSTF
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I read the LA Times article by Shari Roan, Study urges more individual mammogram guidelines, with interest. As Roan notes, guidelines to date have mainly focused on a woman’s age and not her other risks factors.
The American Cancer Society recommends that healthy women undergo screening mammograms every one to two years beginning at age 40 regardless of risk factors. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended a different schedule which urged the inclusion of an individual’s personal risks: screening for women ages 40 to 49 should be based on individual risk factors and women ages 50 to 74 should be screened every two years.
Monday, a paper was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (full reference below) which argues for a more personalized approach to screening mammograms.
The study by Dr. Steven R. Cummings, senior author and senior researcher at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and colleagues was based on a computer model comparing the lifetime costs and health benefits for women who got mammograms every year, every two years, every three to four years or never. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 7th, 2011 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Health Policy, Humor, Opinion
Tags: Dysfunction, Healthcare reform, Obamacare, Repeal
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It is hard to remember all the defects in President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Act at once.
President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Act is so flawed it cannot possibly work as it was intended. It must be repealed. A serious, thoughtful, practical and common sense way to “Repair The Healthcare System” must be enacted before all the stakeholders have adjusted to President Obama’s coming changes that will create a more dysfunctional system.
A reader sent me a photo of a poster hanging in his local ice cream store. It is a reminder of previous criticisms of President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Act.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
July 6th, 2011 by IsisTheScientist in Opinion
Tags: AHA, American Heart Association, Dr. and Mr., Faux Pas, Gender Bias, Registration Page, Relationship Status
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This afternoon I sat in my chair, revitalized form my weekend trip to the Jersey Shore, where I can assure you I did not partake in any fist pumping, spray tanning, pickle eating, or felonious activities, when I received an email from the American Heart Association announcing new scientific findings. I like these emails and generally find them informative.
This particular email announced the placement of the first completely lab-grown human vascular grafts. The email linked to a presentation from Todd N. McAllister of Cytograft Tissue Engineering Inc. These blood vessels were apparently engineered from donor skin cells and: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess*
July 6th, 2011 by Dr. Val Jones in Opinion
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Beginning next year, if you or your loved one is discharged from a hospital, you’d better not return to it for 30 days. That’s because the hospital may be fined for your readmission (especially if you have had pneumonia, heart failure, or a heart attack – diagnoses singled out by CMS as preventable causes of readmission). In fact, if your readmission happens to tip the scales into the red zone (where the hospital falls below the 75th percentile in its hospital readmission rate compared to other hospitals), your arrival could literally cost them millions of dollars in penalties. Needless to say, hospitals are now scrambling to put programs in place to reduce hospital readmissions, all for the sake of “improved quality of care.” In summary:
“One in five Medicare inpatients is readmitted within 30 days. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) considers 40%-75% of these readmissions to be preventable. In October 2012, CMS will begin to track readmission and impose financial penalties on hospitals with higher–than–expected readmission rates for certain conditions. Other payers will certainly follow.”
So, will these programs to reduce hospital readmissions improve the quality of care you receive at your local hospital? Forgive me if I remain skeptical.
July 6th, 2011 by admin in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Crisis, Critical Care, Guest Post, ICU, Tele-ICU, Telemedicine
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America’s ICUs are in crisis. Consider these staggering statistics: Today’s ICUs Serve 4 million patients annually, with roughly 20 percent mortality rates among those treated. On average, every patient admitted to the ICU suffers 1.7 potentially life threatening errors every day and estimates show that patients only receive half of the therapies that they should. And 50,000 patients annually die in the ICU from preventable deaths.
But research indicates that ICU patients have lower risks of death and shorter ICU and hospital stays when an intensivist is on duty in the ICU and oversees patient care. The mortality reduction has ranged from 15 to 60 percent lower than in ICUs where there are no intensivists. However, the Committee for Manpower for Pulmonary and Critical Care Services predicts a shortage of 10,000 ICU physicians, called intensivists, who have extra training to specialize in the care of the ICU patient. This national shortage of intensivists makes it extremely difficult to find intensivists that can provide 24/7 care for today’s ICU patients.
The answer to solving this crisis has emerged from the world of telemedicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
